Confidence soars

The Woolwich consumer confidence balance shows that month on month confidence has gained four percentage points from 52 in May to 56 per cent in June.

The Woolwich believes that people's confidence has increased over the past few months due to a bounce following the conflict in the Gulf and the remarkably warm summer which is making people feel more upbeat about home buying.

However, despite this increase people are feeling less confident than they did a year ago when confidence reached its peak of 68 per cent and we experienced heady rates of house price inflation.

Andy Gray, head of mortgages for The Woolwich, commented; "It is encouraging to see that people's confidence in the housing market has experienced an uplift after several months of steady decline before the conflict in the gulf. This confirms our expectation of a soft landing for the housing market following last year's double digit house price growth. We expect house price inflation will slow to around 8% by the end of the year as people's expectations, especially in the South, are more realistic about house price growth."